Janeva Quits as North Macedonia’s Chief Special Prosecutor

Published by Balkan Insight on Mon, 07/15/2019 - 16:02

Katica Janeva, head of the Special Prosecution in North Macedonia, SJO, the body that has spearheaded the fight against high-level crime in the country, submitted her irrevocable resignation on Monday.

"I submit my resignation that will become active when the political parties agree on the new law [on the SJO] and elect my successor," Janeva wrote in a press release published on Monday.

She said she would not allow her name "to be used as someone's alibi, to hold hostage the fate of the Special Prosecution and of the European integration [of the country]".

Janeva resigned amid calls from the Social Democrat Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Monday at a press conference for renewed talks with the opposition on, among other things, a long-overdue law on the SJO that is key to deciding the fate of the crime-fighting body.

The last round of talks failed in March this year when, despite the Prime Minister's optimism about a compromise, the main opposition VMRO DPMNE party would not budge from its demands, including the replacement of Janeva.

The opposition, whose former and current top officials, including former prime minister and party leader Nikola Gruevski, were the main focus of the Special Prosecution, accuse it of selective justice and have long insisted that Janeva must be replaced.

The SJO has led the fight against high-level crime ever since it was formed in 2015 as part of an EU-sponsored crisis agreement and tasked with investigating allegations that had come to light from wiretapped conversations of officials released by Zaev's party - which was then in opposition.

Headed by Janeva from the beginning, the SJO was given five years to investigate the wiretaps. But it was only given 18 months to press charges. That...